By Marne Cook

Special to the Weekly

Imagine sitting at the table surrounded by your loved ones, enjoying a meal and spending time together.

Eating with your family can increase the number of positive decisions children will make, which includes eating their greens.

That is why the Lopez Island Prevention Coalition invites you to join them in promoting Eat Dinner with your Family Day on Sept. 24.

Your daily investments of frequent family meals will pay big dividends. In Time magazine in an article entitled, “The Magic of the Family Meal”  studies show, “the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use.”

Also, a report by the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University shows that teens who sit down with their family for dinner on a regular basis are less likely to use alcohol, marijuana, tobacco or others drugs.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., a former secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, said, “in today’s busy and over-scheduled world, taking the time to come together for dinner really makes a difference in a child’s life.”

Parents, do you want to strengthen your relationship your children?

According to this same report by CASA, teens who have frequent family dinners are twice as likely to say they have an “excellent” relationship with their parents.

The most magical thing about these facts is that it doesn’t matter what you eat, where you eat or what you talk about. The only thing that matters is you are together, sharing time with one another.

Additional information can be found on www.casafamilyday.org, www.times.com or www.webmd.com.